Rolling

PJ continues to roll -- with consecutive 11 win weeks he is now tied for the overall lead. He continued his winning tradition of not submitting his picks until after the Thursday game, spotting the field a game. The five of us that have submitted picks each week are within three wins of the overall and so, with three weeks left, the end of year Pigskin Pick'em honors are as up for grabs as the final Wild Card Spots in both the AFC and the NFC.

Homedogs went 2-5 last week, with only Houston winning outright against the enematic City of Tampa.

The last of those homedogs to lose were the Falcons, whose coach left the following day. The only player sorry to see him go is Brian Brohm who now cannot be guaranteed to go so early in the first round.

This got us to thinking about why you would leave the College ranks for the Pros. Within the past few years many high profile College coaches have left to the Pros, only to return back to playing on Saturdays within a year or two. Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier and now Petrino. But isnt' the College gig just better -- fewer games, including a few cupcakes whatever conference you play in, the ability to get the players you want (and those players not having ungodly amounts of money), no salary cap. So why go to the Pros -- sure some of them might be competitive enough to need to prove they can do it in the Pros. But now that taxpayers and boosters seem more then happy to give millions per year for multiple years to these coaches, plus all of the endorsement and extras (radio and tv shows etc) why go pro?

Other thoughts:
We have complained about the number of crappy games this year -- but all of those crappy teams have left us with five top teams, creating some of the most anticipated regular season matchups in a long time -- NE@Indy, Pitt@NE,NE@Dallas, GB@Dallas. So do those great games every few weeks make up for the crappy ones that we've endured?

If the answer is 'Brock Berlin' aren't you asking the wrong question? If there are only enough quality quarterbacks for half of the teams, that shouldn't we make the position easier somehow -- either through coaching or easier progressions are something? On that same idea, if Belichick can turn Jabar Gaffney into Randy Moss for a game -- the same Jabar Gaffney who sucked when Spurrier was coaching the 'Skins -- then we ought to be able to do the same for QBs.

The Packers inexorable run to the Super Bowl (we conveniently left out their loss to the Cowboys last week; meaning that Brett Favre is likely going to have to win for the first time ever in Texas Stadium for the Packers to fulfill their Super Bowl destiny) continued as they squashed the Raiders.

This week's most intriguing game just might the battle of Lake Erie as the Bills head down I-90 to play the Browns. Now the Browns remaining two teams are the Bengals and I think the Erie, PA Little Sisters of the Poor (actually the Niners, although the Sisters would be favored over the Niners and the Mormon QB Alex Smith). Still a Bills victory will enable them to control their own destiny for the final AFC wild card spot.

Many eyes will be focused on New England to see what kind of embarrassment the Pats have in store for the Jets -- but perhaps the football gods will step in, as the predicted blizzard on Sunday in New England could keep the Pats under the 24.5 spread. Or it just might not matter.

Lock of the Week is on a bit of roll, with two straight correct as the Giants fulfilled my prediction and beat the Eagles here in the 'iladelph. This week we'll go with the Saints over the Cardinals in the Big Easy.

Make it a good week.
Jono